


The Obsidian Rose

by Taikanaakka



Series: The Past and the Present [3]
Category: Elder Scrolls, Elder Scrolls Online
Genre: Bandits & Outlaws, Brothers, F/M, High Rock, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Skooma, Tamriel, Wayrest, outlawsrefuge, stormhaven
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-08
Updated: 2019-12-08
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:46:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21723208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Taikanaakka/pseuds/Taikanaakka
Summary: This chapter tells about William's life in the Outlaws Refuge of Wayrest. This is a prequel to the chapters "The Skull and the Heart" and " A Ghost from the past", and I suggest you to read at least "The Skull and the Heart" before reading this but this chapter should work out well as a story of its own, too.
Series: The Past and the Present [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1287584





	The Obsidian Rose

William gazed at the woman lying beneath him - she was gorgeous. She was young and pretty. She had a perfectly shaped body. And she would be his for the next hour. Her jade-green eyes were wide open and the pupils were large from desire - except that the feeling was not desire but fear. It was until now he realized that she was afraid of him.

He felt himself stupid. He was paying her for this, only an idiot would think that she was truly interested in him. Despite all the alcohol in his bloodstream clouding his judgement he now clearly saw that she was faking her lust, trying to mask her fright. It was ridiculously easy to see her true feelings from her eyes despite her attempts to hide them.

He regretted of having chosen her as his escort. Surely she had been the prettiest of them all but he now thought frustrated that he should have chosen someone a bit older - someone with more experience of...this. Then he noticed how she stared at the sign of his guild that was tattooed on his chest; the symbol seemed to make her nervous. Maybe she had seen it before, tattooed on someone else.

He gently wiped the loose strands of hair off her face. Then he leaned closer to her and whispered: "You don't have to be scared. I'm not gonna hurt you." He felt how she relaxed a bit. She closed her eyes and probably imagined being somewhere else and with someone else. He intended to finish his business with her quickly.

When he was done, he got dressed swiftly and paid her, avoiding eye contact with her. He did not figure out what to say in the situation, so he left without a word. When he had closed the door, he remembered that he had left his skooma there. However, he would not go back to fetch it; the bottle was tiny so she could keep it as an extra reward from her services. He could easily afford taking another one for himself from his stock.

William had not expected to see the woman again, at least not any time soon, so he was surprised to meet her in the Outlaws Refuge of Wayrest, a large settlement of outcasts located straight under the capital city, where he and his big brother currently resided. She walked to him and asked: "Hey, do you happen to have more of this...stuff?" showing him the bottle he had left at her place a couple of nights ago.

"Skooma? Aye, I have. In fact, I sell skooma. You wanna buy it, then?" he wondered, and she nodded. "How much?" he asked, and she proposed:

"Well, how much could I get for an hour of my time?"

He was a bit startled by her unexpected offer, since he was not drunk at all at the moment - but eventually he did not turn it down.

When he was giving the bottle of skooma for her, it occurred him to ask: "So, you haven't used this stuff a lot before?"

She shook her head and admitted: "Hadn't tasted it before I got the bottle from you."

"Then don't take more of it than just a few sips at a time, it should be enough, this stuff is quite potent...a small glass at most," he warned, and she replied a bit surprised: "Oh, if you say so," and he added:

"Don't take a heavy dose - 'cos I wanna see your pretty face again." He was content how confident and laid-back he had sounded while saying that.

William watched the woman entering the main chamber of the Refuge, where most of the vendors and the money lenders were. He first wondered if she was looking for him but she went to talk to Nullius Filius, an Imperial fence, instead.

They had started seeing each other frequently. First he had not been certain if he was only being her customer or something else, so he had ended up giving her all sorts of trinkets he had obtained during his heists when they departed; when they had also spent nights together only drinking and chatting and keeping each other company, he had eventually come into the conclusion that they were dating.

He observed her trying to socialize with the lowlife living in the Refuge; she mostly seemed to interact with Ereel-Maxath, the Argonian moneylender or Vol, the Nord merchant. She stuck out of the folk hanging in the Refuge like bloodstains on a freshly fallen snow, and it was not because she was an Imperial but because she was new in here and did not quite seem to blend in the bunch of callous lowlifes. He had not been in the Refuge himself for so long, either but he thought he already fitted quite nicely in - and besides, knowing who his brother was, few people would dare to cause him troubles, since his brother had already gained quite a reputation among the outlaws of Wayrest.

He really pitied her; he thought upset that her being new here and her obvious lack of confidence would make her an easy target for some men...like his brother - who he soon saw staggering to the Refuge! He tensed as his brother came closer; he had instantly noticed him having been drinking heavily again and he would be in a malicious mood. In that state he would be easily provoked and he really was afraid of his brother's violent outbursts that had often caused someone getting battered - or even killed a couple of times. His brother had never hurt him badly though but he had had to learn to be wary in his company, when he was drunk.

He felt instantly relieved as his brother changed his direction and walked away from him, clearly having found more interesting company than his was. William noticed that he joined a group that was arm wrestling. He hoped that probably winning the contest would get his brother into a better mood. Despite being drunk, he would most likely still be overpowering, since, being a half Nord from his father's side, he was exceptionally tall and robust for a Breton.

William was delighted when he noticed that the woman came to see him. Of course he understood how she made her living but he was pleased that he would not have to share her with anyone tonight. They discussed where they would spend the night in. He was planning to take her to the Cloudy Dregs Inn - and this time even pay for the room, instead of just slipping into one of the empty rooms that were rarely in use - but then he froze as he heard his big brother's voice behind his back.

"Oh, good evening, lil brother! I didn't know that we're using a same wench!" his brother greeted him amused but he quickly lied:

"She's just buying skooma from me."

His brother stared at him for a moment and replied: "Whatever. But I'll have a deal for her now," then grinning at the woman viciously and saying: "I've figured out that you'll need some protection down here...let's make a deal."

"Protection from what?" the woman asked frightened.

"Protection from the guys like me! Let me remind you!" he replied and suddenly grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him.

William stood still, trying to be as quiet and invisible as possible, hoping that he could completely disappear into the shadows. He felt his hands shaking from terror and rage; he could only stand there completely helpless and watch how his big brother mistreated her and then dragged her away, to further abuse her. He felt so sickened by his brother's behavior that he wanted to throw up.

William started to become more and more concerned as he had not seen or heard of the woman for several days but he did not dare to ask his brother what he had done to her. He hated his brother more than he had perhaps hated ever before. Usually he paid no mind about what his brother did when he was drunk, no matter how brutal it had been but this time things were different. This time his brother had crossed the line - even if his brother had not known that the woman mattered to him. In fact, he was certain that if his brother had known that he...was in love with her, it would only have made his behavior worse. He thought enraged that his brother always broke everything that was important to him; like that bow their mother had given to him, the only thing that he had had left of his father. And the countless times when his brother had ruined his relationships or friendships when they had gotten deeper - as if he purposefully wanted to isolate him from the rest of the world!

He was so relieved when he finally met the woman again and she seemed to be mostly alright, even though a bit more quiet than usually. He first did not ask or say anything about what had happened but when he noticed her being more reserved than before, he eventually said to her, while looking away from her: "Really, there's nothing I could've done that night, when - My brother, he's a...monster when he is drunk."

She remained silent for some time and then eventually said upset: "But you're so ashamed of being with me that you had to lie about us to him, so -" but he interrupted her:

"I'm not ashamed of anything - damn it - I wouldn't care about what anyone thinks about us or anything! But I couldn't keep you safe from my brother, 'cos if he knew that I...care about you a lot, he'd destroy you! Like he always destroys everything that matters to me! He's a danger to everyone and everything that surrounds him when he's drunk, he's - he's a..." but he did not finish the sentence. Then he stared at the ground silently for a great while before she eventually wondered:

"And you still hang with him?"

"I - I guess blood's thicker than water," he reckoned and added: "Besides, I've learnt how not to get on his bad side, so I'm pretty okay with his company even when he's drunk."

"But you shouldn't keep doing...this to yourself, you shouldn't be here," he stated to her sadly, explaining: "I mean, it's so obvious that you don't belong in here - you're so different from the rest of these...other folks here. Why are you doing this, 'cos I think you should be doing something else than - " but she suddenly cried out resentfully:

"Do you really think that this is what I'd do - that I'd be a whore and be in debt to that moneylender and all that - if I had any other options in life?"

"Why don't you run away and start anew in somewhere far away from here?" he suggested distressed but she laughed cynically and replied:

"I already ran away once - and this is how it all ended. Why would anything be different next time?"

"What if we ran away together?" he proposed spontaneously.

"What's your real name?" he asked her as they were lying close to each other on a blanket, enjoying the warmth that the company of the other person provided in the chilliness of the autumn.

She was slightly startled by his unexpected question but quickly answered: "Just call me Rose, please."

"But Rose isn't your real name, right?" he questioned her answer but she replied:

"My real name doesn't matter to you - I prefer to think that person died when I left Cyrodiil."

"You really like roses. Why?" he wondered aloud as he looked at the rose tattoo that was on her neck and thought about the rose-scented fragrance she always wore.

"Well, who wouldn't love roses?" she returned the question to him, and he replied, while playing with a lock of her ink-black hair:

"Aye, true - at least I love roses," and smiled at her disarmingly.

"Where would we run away to?" she asked him as they were drinking rum and tea to keep themselves warm in the coldness.

"Dunno," he replied but added: "Somewhere where it's always warm at least. I've heard the weather's always lovely in the Summerset Isles."

"But High Elves don't like outsiders," she pointed out and suggested: "What about Sentinel? It's not very far away, though, but it's in Hammerfell, so it'd be in a different land at least - or Stros M'Kai! That little island would be rather far away from here."

"Alright, Stros M'Kai sounds nice," he agreed and smiled a bit; he reckoned this being the first time he had seen her truly happy, so he continued chatting about their little dream of escaping their current lives: "But what would we do in Stros M'Kai, then?"

"Start anew, of course - and get to live a different kind of life than this...maybe I could find a job as a waitress in an inn there,” she replied and asked: “What would you do for a living?"

He thought about the matter for a moment and then stated: "Maybe I could become a sailor?" but she protested:

"Then we couldn't be together, because you'd always be sailing the seas! Think about something else!"

"Hmm...maybe I wouldn't need to get a new job. I could pick the pockets of the customers at the inn," but she laughed and turned his idea down:

"No you couldn't, silly! 'Cos if you took their gold, then they couldn't pay for their meals or leave a tip for me!" and suggested instead: "But perhaps you could become a bard at the inn where I'd be working?"

He laughed amused and objected: "You obviously haven’t heard me singing - and I prefer things staying that way! I'm definitely not a good singer or even play any instrument at all!"

"Okay...maybe a trader then? Hey, I think I really could be a trader! I mean, to sell legal wares and make a living of it..." he eventually came up with a profession they thought that would suit him.

Before she left, she threw him a small, simple key and said: " This is to my place, you can visit there whenever you like. It's not very fancy but at least I still have a roof over my head,"

but he threw the key back to her and stated, smiling a bit boldly: "If I wanna visit your place, I don't need a key for that!"

  
  


William was still secretly angry with his brother, even though some time had already passed from the night when his brother had abused Rose but he had decided to just push his feelings of him aside, since things were otherwise going so nicely at the moment. He had gotten acquainted with some more experienced thieves lately and they had done a couple of rather successful burglary heists together and were planning to further co-operate in the future. Despite his brother having some adversities with the law, he had been surprisingly calm and even cheerful occasionally, most likely because their skooma business was going quite well.

However, his brother's infamy had began to somewhat hinder him outside the walls of the Refuge, so his brother had started to talk that they should perhaps move to Evermore, the nearest large city in High Rock. William had not mentioned anything about his brother's plans to Rose, since he did not want to make her upset. They were really enjoying each other's company, and he did not want to spoil that by revealing her his plans to possibly leave Wayrest with his brother. He decided that if he really was leaving, he would tell about it to her when the time would be right for that.

When his brother had had another run-in with the authorities, they agreed to leave Wayrest swiftly. His brother had been spending the night drinking at the inn, when he had lost his nerves, because someone had apparently been stupid enough to provoke him; unfortunately that person had been some Breton nobleman. He had battered the man and when the guards had come to arrest him, he had beaten them unconscious and escaped them. Luckily no one had gotten killed but knocking off the guards had been bad enough to make his brother notorious in the city.

William truly hated to leave but he knew that he had no other option; he had always been with his big brother, and his brother had been all he had had in his life for such a long time that going separate ways with him would be out of question. He knew that he was doing pretty well himself in Wayrest but he considered that he would not truly survive on his own, if his brother left him behind.

He kept staring at Rose, who was in a deep sleep; she looked so pure and innocent. She was probably the most beautiful thing he had in his life, and soon he would end up hurting both of their feelings, since he would leave her. He had promised to join his big brother at dusk; his brother would be waiting for him in a place close to the small bridge east of Wayrest.

He had not figured out how to say his goodbyes to her, so he would leave her without a word. He put a silver necklace on her neck, careful not to wake her up - he startled a bit when she took a deep breath but then she continued her peaceful sleep. Before he went away, he left her a note explaining the situation and a bunch of rare black roses. He was certain that his friends would think him being insane if they knew what he had done to get them for her.

In the evening he found his big brother waiting for him in the place where they had planned to meet. They did not say much to each other, since neither of them was in a mood for talking. Eventually, though, he broke the silence, asking: "So, we'll need to cross that massive bridge between Stormhaven and Bankorai to get to Evermore, aye?"

His brother laughed amused and explained him: "Hah, as glorious as it would be to proudly walk across that bridge, slicing the throats of the guards and dumping their bodies into the sea below, I've decided to choose a bit more subtle passage. I've gotten us a boat, of course!"

The sea was surprisingly calm but there were still some larger waves and the mists were gathering around them as they sat in the little boat, on their way to Bankorai. William felt nervous when he gazed into the darkness and fog that was surrounding them and thought about the cold, deep water beneath them but then he looked at his big brother who was rowing. He did not seem to be scared at all, not even when a taller wave lifted their small boat. He felt how some of his fright subsided; he calmed himself down with the thought that when he was with his big brother, there would be nothing in the world that he would have to fear. As rough as his brother might be, in his company he had always been somewhat safe.

  
\---

_"Here, this is where we found the corpse, ma'am," a Wayrest city guard said to his captain, a middle-aged Breton woman, pointing at a place near the docks._

_The captain looked at the body of a young Imperial woman and stated: "Oh, poor lass! Barely in her early_ _twenties_ _. Let's find out what happened to you," and started to inspect the possible crime scene._

_"Skooma..." she said to herself, smelling the empty bottle she had found next to her body, when she had investigated the corpse and its surroundings, and declared: "The cause of death is an overdose of skooma."_

_"Yes, ma'am," the guard approved and then wondered: "Was it an accident or did she do it...on purpose, ma'am?"_

_"Impossible to say at this point,_ _of course,_ _" she_ _blurted_ _him and added: "And it's not our concern_ _in any case_ _. But the cause of her death is clear, and I suspect no crime associated with her death - except for the usage of skooma of course, but it doesn't matter to us now - so the case is closed and further inspections are not needed here. Go fetch your comrade and take her body to the_ _chapel_ _. We'll still need to identify her, so that we can inform her relations of her death."_

_"Yes, ma'am!" the guard replied and started to carry out her orders._

_When the guard had left, the captain took the necklace from_ _the_ _neck_ _of her body_ _\- that was exactly the same piece of jewellery that the Captain herself had lost some time ago - and stared at the withered black roses that_ _the woman_ _had held in her hands, wondering aloud: "But how in Oblivion did you get my necklace and those flowers?" Since, to her knowledge the only place in Wayrest where the black roses grew was in her garden._

_Despite their efforts, the Captain and her subordinates had not succeeded in identifying the woman, since they had not found any documents about her or anyone who would have known her. Despite her both subtle and more direct attempts to interrogate her husband and son about the woman, the Captain had not_ _gotten_ _any information of her, and she had even become convinced that they both had spoken the truth to her, when they had sworn that they had never met her._

_Because no one seemed to know the mysterious woman's real name, they had started to call her Obsidian Rose, thus that became the text that was written on the small stone on her grave in the Wayrest cemetery. No one could explain why the black roses the Captain had brought to her grave took root in there and started to thrive._

_Few people would dare trying to cut off any of those roses, since_ _the citizens of Wayrest started to believe_ _that a sting from their thorns could be lethal, and another legend of them had also started to spread among the lowlife of Wayrest. Some people that had strayed to the graveyard_ _in the dark_ _, being_ _high_ _on_ _s_ _kooma, had claimed to have seen the roses bleeding at night._


End file.
